by Lou Anders
“You won’t.”
She stood still, and Curious approached. His horn was shining its radiant light. Wherever he pointed it, her wounds cleared up and faded away. And she felt strength coming back to the healed patches. In fact, she felt quite good all over. Some places even felt better than before.
It really was quite amazing.
“How did you do that?” she asked. “Is it something you learn?”
“The horn magic,” said Curious. “All unicorns can do it. Although for some reason, mares are better than stallions at it. The girls’ magic is just stronger than the boys’. Say, your magic is pretty strong.”
“My fire is always strong,” said Midnight.
“But it was very tightly focused,” observed Curious. “Is that why you wanted to eat a wispy wood wink? To focus your fire?”
“If you must know, yes.”
“Did you know a wispy wood wink could do that? Have you eaten one before?”
“No, I haven’t eaten one before. I just thought a different color fire might change my fire a little.”
“So you were conducting an Experiment!”
“What? No I wasn’t.”
“Yes, you were,” insisted Curious. “You were conducting a proper scientific Experiment. It’s just like what I do.”
“It’s nothing like what you do,” said Midnight. Being compared to a unicorn really irritated her. She broke away from him, moving into a canter.
“We’ve wasted enough time,” she said. “I’ve got places to be. I’ve got to reach the Curse before midnight.”
“Why before midnight?” asked Curious.
“Because I do,” she insisted.
Curious didn’t like it at all.
This is it, he thought. The first trap was so she could get her hooves on my Absorbing Orb, and now she’s bringing me to the Curse.
But she had saved him. At least twice now. Why would she do that if she was just going to take him to the Curse for another trap? His Scientific Mind didn’t think that made sense. And Curious started to get curious.
So he followed her.
“Can’t you find the Curse later?”
“No, it has to be tonight.”
“Why tonight?”
Midnight sighed. “Because tonight the moons line up.”
Curious glanced at the sky. “So?”
“So when the moons line up, we have the Stomp.”
Curious had never heard of the Stomp. Of course, not knowing about a thing made him very curious. Which is to say, very much himself. So now he was really curious.
“What’s the Stomp?” he asked.
“Only the most important night of the month,” said Midnight.
“If it’s so important, why haven’t I heard of it?”
“It’s for night mares only.”
“Okay, but what do you do at a Stomp?”
“We don’t stomp unicorns if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“No, really? What is it?”
“It’s a Stomp. You stomp! Why do you think it’s called a Stomp?”
“But why do you stomp at a Stomp?”
“Look, we have these rocks called the Silent Stones. A long time ago, I think they kept all the fairies out of the Glistening Isles. Only they don’t really work anymore. Their magic has all drained away. But at the Stomp, we can give them a little bit of magic. Just enough to keep us safe by the stones at night. But only at midnight and only once a month when the moons are right. And it gets us through a month until the next Stomp.”
“Could I watch it?” Curious asked.
“Absolutely not.”
“But I’m really…”
“Curious?”
Curious nodded.
“Well, too bad. Look, if you were there, the Curse would go crazy. Then it really would be a Unicorn Stomp. Not a Stomp Stomp.”
Curious grumbled, but he knew she was telling the truth. And he didn’t want to be the main attraction at a Unicorn Stomp. He was wondering what could be done about it, when Midnight slowed down to a trot.
“Shhh,” she said. “We’re getting close.”
“But you said I couldn’t go.”
“Not to where I’m going,” she explained. “To where you’re going.”
Then she trotted off the path, and Curious saw a little clearing in the woods. There was a small, rocky hill, and in the hill, the mouth of a cave.
“What is this place?” he asked.
“It’s a cave,” she said.
“But why are we here?”
“You can wait here until morning,” she said.
Curious looked at the dark opening.
“In there?” he said.
“It’s just a cave.”
“Yes,” said Curious. “Dark caves aren’t really a thing on my side of the river. The only caves we have are crystal caves, and they’re never very dark.”
Midnight snorted.
“It’s perfectly safe. Or at least it’s pretty safe. I’m fairly sure it’s safe. Safe-ish.”
“I don’t know about this,” said Curious.
“Look,” said Midnight, “I have to be at the Silent Stones for the Stomp, and I don’t have any more time. You can’t come. So you can either wait here for me where you’re safe, you can wander about where something nasty might spot you, or you can try finding your own way back to your Blessing on your own.”
Curious shook his mane in frustration. But he didn’t see that he had any options. So he trotted into the cave.
It was dark inside, of course, but fairly dry. It went back farther than he could see. He turned around and faced outward.
“You’ll return in the morning?” he said.
“Yes,” said Midnight.
“You promise?”
Midnight sighed.
“I promise. Now I have to go.”
“What if someone else comes in?” he asked.
“They won’t,” said Midnight.
“How can you be sure?” asked Curious.
“Because they’re all afraid of the Slumbering Cindersloth.”
“Slumbering Cinder-what!?!” yelled Wartle.
Curious was so startled by the puckle’s outburst that he leapt off all four hooves at once.
“Relax,” said Midnight. “The Slumbering Cindersloth almost never wakes up anymore. That’s why they call her ‘slumbering,’ right? So I’m sure she won’t wake up tonight. Probably not anyway. Maybe keep quiet just to be safe. Safe-ish.”
And then she turned and cantered away, leaving Curious very curious, and more than a little nervous, about being alone with whatever a Slumbering Cindersloth was.
But Curious could never worry for long. Not when he was so curious. And he was so curious he itched.
“I want to see the Stomp,” he said. “I really, really, really want to see the Stomp.”
“You don’t even know what a Stomp is,” Wartle pointed out.
“That’s why I want to see it,” said Curious. “Do you think if I’m really, really sneaky we can spy on the Stomp? And we can slip back to this cave right afterward. Midnight won’t even know we were gone.”
“I don’t know,” said Wartle.
“As long as the Curse doesn’t see us, it’ll be fine.”
“As long as nothing else does either,” said Wartle.
Curious thought about that.
“But they won’t,” he said. “Because the Stomp keeps Wicked Fairies away. So it will work! What could go wrong?”
“Lots of things,” said Wartle. And though he wasn’t right about much, he was right about this.
Midnight was glad to be free of the unicorn. Even if it was only temporarily. Oh, she was tempted to just leave him where he was. That was
a really attractive notion to be sure.
But she’d have to go back for him eventually.
And the Slumbering Cindersloth? It probably wouldn’t wake up before she returned, right? Probably not. But either way, Curious would have to leave the cave eventually. He couldn’t stay there forever. And it would sort of—kind of—maybe be her fault if something else ate him when he did. After all, she had dragged him deeper into the Whisperwood than he would have gone by himself. Of course, he never should have jumped in the river in the first place.
Stupid, stupid unicorn.
But unicorns were stupid. So maybe he couldn’t help himself. It was just one more reason that she was glad she was a night mare and not one of them. Or she would be glad, if they didn’t make her live in the Whisperwood. They thought they were so good. But night mares were better than unicorns, right? No unicorn had ever jumped in the river to save a night mare. So she was better than he was. And if something ate him before he told any of his snooty friends, well, no one would ever know.
She glanced at the sky. The smaller moon was moving into position right in front of the larger one. Together, they looked like a giant eye in the sky—a big silvery orb with a large black pupil rolling across its surface toward the center. This meant that it was almost time for the Stomp. The Stomp was only ever held on nights like this.
She had an odd thought, which was that Curious would enjoy watching the Stomp. Too bad he couldn’t see it, then. Too bad? The Stomp wasn’t for outsiders. Even scientific ones. It had nothing to do with science. The Stomp was about fire, and excitement, and old, old magic, and, well, stomping, of course.
Midnight couldn’t wait. She hadn’t been in a Stomp since she was one year old. Her first and only time. That one had ended badly with a big boom-bada-boom. Which wasn’t really her fault. Because she didn’t know then how wild her fire could be. But it was more her fault than anyone else’s. Because it was her fire. So the herd had told her very firmly, No More Stomping For You, Midnight. And ever since, she had been Midnight of the Uncontrollable Fire. Midnight Who Was Always Causing Explosions. Midnight, Trouble for the Curse, and Oh, Midnight, Why Can’t You Just Be Like Everybody Else?
But tonight would be different. Because tonight she had a wispy wood wink trapped in an Absorbing Orb crammed in her ear. So she must be different. And she was sure the difference was a good difference.
She thought about how impressed all the night mares were going to be when they saw her stomping. It was going to be grand and glorious and very, very fun. She was going to be the best stomper in the whole entire history of the Stomp.
So she practically raced as she followed the path through the Whisperwood that led to the Curse’s Hidden Glen. She heard the neighing and snorting of horses up ahead and her heart did a little bump-thumpa-bump. She felt very excited and very energetic.
For all of about two minutes.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” roared a voice.
Midnight knew the voice. It was often roaring at her. It always sounded angry or disappointed or maybe just plain tired when it did so. So she wasn’t surprised when she saw a horse standing before her.
It was, of course, Sabledusk doing the roaring.
Who’s Sabledusk?
Only the biggest, strongest, fiercest night mare in the entire herd. You had to be tough if you wanted to lead the Curse, because let’s face it, horses with burning hooves and fire snorting out their nostrils can’t be led by just anyone. I couldn’t do it. Could you?
But Sabledusk could. And she did.
She was the head night mare. She was large and in charge. She was something else, too, very specific to Midnight. But we’ll get to that in a moment. Because right now Sabledusk is tapping her hoof impatiently and waiting for an answer. And it’s an answer that Midnight really doesn’t want to give.
“Um, well,” said Midnight. “I’ve just been out. For a little stroll. That’s it, a stroll. To, um, the cave of the Slumbering Cindersloth.”
“The Cindersloth,” said Sabledusk. “For all this time?” She didn’t sound like she believed Midnight. The cave wasn’t very far away and, honestly, wasn’t very interesting.
“Uh, yes, the Cindersloth,” said Midnight, stammering in a way that said she didn’t really believe herself either. “And maybe the River Restless.”
“The river?” said Sabledusk. “You should never go out at night when there are Fairy Creatures about! And you should positively absolutely never go as far as the River Restless.”
“I know. I got restless too,” said Midnight, her voice going very small. All this time, Midnight had been looking at the ground and shuffling her hooves. But now she risked a glance upward. When Sabledusk got really mad, her mane burst into yellow flame. It was really impressive and scary and pretty all at the same time. But it was generally a bad sign if you were the reason her mane was burning yellow. It wasn’t burning now, which meant that she was only sort of mad. Not maximum mad. Not super-duper mad. That was good.
Midnight brightened.
“But I came back! Just in time for the Stomp. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one!” She tossed her head to indicate the moons, which had just about lined up.
Sabledusk looked up as well. She saw the moons were doing their thing. She didn’t really have time to sort out Midnight.
Sabledusk sighed a big, long sigh of air that made her lips all wobbly.
“Get inside,” she said with a voice full of resignation. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Midnight shook her head in a horsey way of saying “okay, okay” and then she trotted forward.
Now, I’m sure you’ve never seen the secret home of the Curse of night mares deep within the Whisperwood. No human ever has. It was a big, broad, and mostly circular glen that was open to the sky. Inside the glen there were two rings of twenty-two old stones arranged in two circles, one of twelve stones and one of ten stones, and there was a twenty-third stone in the center. A couple of them had fallen over, and a couple of them had lost their tops. Nearly all of them were cracked and chipped, but they were still very impressive.
All the still standing stones were very tall. They were carved with strange runes that no one could read (though night mares don’t read anyway). Moss grew all over them and here or there a vine. And they seemed somehow maybe just a little bit, well, don’t think me crazy, but they seemed just a little bit alive. Like they were sleeping, maybe. Or waiting for something, perhaps.
These were, of course, the Silent Stones. Once upon a time, they were magical, but their magic was mostly gone now. But even so, fairies and Fairy Creatures avoided them if they could. That was usually good, but tonight it was unfortunate for Midnight. Because Midnight had forgotten that wispy wood winks were Fairy Creatures. So when she trotted forward she got a reminder.
Just as Midnight stepped between the two stones, the wispy wood wink twitched and jerked. It was trapped in an Absorbing Orb and Wartle had crammed the orb as tight in her ear as he could fit it. So the wink didn’t get loose and neither did the orb. But Midnight’s head was pulled back and her neck twisted.
Sabledusk snorted in surprise.
“Stop fooling around and get in here,” she said.
“I’m not fooling around,” said Midnight. She blew an angry blast and stepped forward again.
The wispy wood wink thrashed around inside her ear again. This time it forced her head down, between her knees, so that she almost folded over.
“What’s the matter with you?” asked Sabledusk. “You’re not under a spell, are you?” She looked over Midnight’s head, into the darkness of the Whisperwood, in case any Wicked Fairies were about and casting evil magics. She didn’t see any, but you never knew with Wicked Fairies and evil magics.
“No, no,” said Midnight, who was worried Sabledusk might spot the crystal orb in her ear. “I’m f
ine. It’s just a horsefly. Trying to bite me on the bum.”
“I don’t see any horseflies,” said Sabledusk suspiciously.
“There it is, there,” said Midnight, as convincingly as she could. “There it goes.” And then, under her breath, she said, “Bzzzz, bzzz, bzzzz.”
“All riiiiiight,” said Sabledusk. “Just get in here where it’s safe.”
“I’m trying,” said Midnight. And with that she shook her head savagely, rattling the wink in her ear. It must have gotten dizzy, because it settled down to being only slightly twitchy. Then she strode forward into the stone circle.
“You’re here!” cried her friend Vision. “I thought I’d never see you again. Not after you jumped in the river.”
“Nonsense,” said Midnight, trotting over to Vision. “Don’t I always come back from a Plan?”
“Yes,” said Vision. “That’s true. But I thought maybe this Plan was different. This time you were on the other side of the river. And that’s never been in one of your Plans before.”
“Hush,” said Midnight quickly.
“With a unicorn,” said Vision.
“Shush,” said Midnight quickly.
“That you saved,” said Vision.
“Hush and shush and shut it too,” said Midnight. “Look, I’ll tell you all about it after the Stomp, but you have to keep quiet. I don’t want Sabledusk or anyone else to find out what I’ve been up to.”
“That’s because you know what they will say.”
“Yes,” said Midnight. “They will say that unicorns are evil, and I should have let him drown.”
“And they’ll say that because it’s true.”
Midnight thought about that. The unicorn was annoying, but she wasn’t sure she’d call him evil.
“Curious isn’t evil,” she said. “He’s stupid. And he thinks I’m a Creature of Wickedness, but that’s only because it’s what he’s been taught.”
“You’ve been talking with him!”
“I rescued him. Of course I talked to him!”
“Midnight, this is really too much.”
“You won’t tell on me, will you?”
Vision tilted her head and gave Midnight an “I don’t know about this” look.
